Toonoo Sharky was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts at the age of thirty-two, one of the youngest artists to receive the honour. By that point he had already been carving for over two decades and showing his work publicly for nearly fifteen years. Over the past thirty years, he has stood at the forefront of Kinngait sculpture, celebrated for his daring sense of form and his inventive vision.

This work initially presents itself as a bird, its form dynamic and full of movement, the body shaped from broad, sweeping planes that are then enlivened with layered details. With closer attention, however, the lines shift and suggest the broad sweep of aquatic fins. Anatomy here becomes a point of departure rather than the final word. The composition pitches forward, leaning into space with improbable balance, giving the impression of motion suspended. What emerges is not simply a depiction but a performance; a sculpture that enacts the very energy it represents in a dynamic embodiment of motion itself, balancing the gestures of swimming and flying within a single form.